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Creative Minds

Barnabé Fillion

The Parisian perfumer behind some of the world's most iconic aromas prepares to launch his own label

By Lucy Rees
Three transparent acrylic blocks with embedded insects, casts shadows on a white background.
Barnabé Fillion’s collaboration with artist Anicka Yi for a line of custom fragrances. Photo: Courtesy of Anicka Yi Studio

Man in an orange shirt examines a black object in a kitchen setting, with various items visible in the background.
Barnabé Fillion. Henry Roy

The nose behind some of the most revered cult fragrances, like Aesop’s Marrakech and Le Labo Geranium 30, the master Paris perfumer Barnabé Fillion draws on his background in photography to craft unique sensory experiences. It all starts with a texture he envisions. “The first impressions of a scent usually come from a visual aesthetic,” says Fillion, who fell in love with the olfactory world after learning from mentors Victoire Tobin-Dauge and Christine Nagel.

Fillion recently teamed up with New York artist Anicka Yi to create a line of custom fragrances for Dover Street Market. The three scents challenge preconceived notions of femininity and attraction. “Working with Anicka has been an amazing dialogue,” says Fillion. “It nourished me creatively and gave me a new intellectual perspective to artistic expression.”

Recommended: Arquiste’s Carlos Huber Debuts a Seductive New Scent

Three blocks of clear resin encasing ants, arranged in a row on a light background.
Barnabé Fillion’s collaboration with artist Anicka Yi for a line of custom fragrances, available at Dover Street Market. Courtesy of Anicka Yi Studio

Watch for his own studio brand, launching this year. 

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2020 Spring Issue under the headline Creative Minds. Subscribe to the magazine.